In the face of climate change, disaster risk management must drive development and not vice versa. Seismic tremors, surface slippage of fragile sedimentary soils generating landslides, monsoon weather and cyclonic storms producing massive run-off are all relatively well understood, inherent to the Himalayan region, and by and large predictable. Yet governments, communities and international agencies repeatedly appear to have been "taken by surprise" when each of these occurs. What needs to be understood is that systems of mitigation and response are at the very foundation of economic development, built into the understanding of disasters.